] Tuesday's election will probably be decided in 11 states
] where polls currently show the race too tight to predict
] a winner. And, assuming the other states go as predicted,
] a computer analysis finds no fewer than 33 combinations
] in which those 11 states could divide to produce a 269 to
] 269 electoral tie.

OMG

[ All rather unlikely as the article notes, but also, make no mistake (also noted within), a Tie is a win for Bush, as the House is (R) right now. -k]

Electoral College Calculus (washingtonpost.com)

] Since 1933, when the Boston Braves were renamed the
] Redskins, the result of the team's final home game before
] the presidential election has always correctly predicted
] the White House winner. If the Redskins win, the
] incumbent party wins. If they lose, the incumbent party
] is ousted.

That pretty much speaks for itself. Looking ahead...

-- 2004: Redskins host Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Bush faces John Kerry on Tuesday.

Now I sit and watch how many people can reply to this without opsting a jab at one of the teams/candidates.

[ What about a jab at coincidences masquerading as predictors? But this is sports, which just wouldn't be the same without superstitions, so I'll play along.

Anyone know what the odds are on this game? Neither is exactly kicking ass this year, but GB has the slight edge being at 3 and 4 (Wash. is 2/4). Also, the 'skins have lost more home games than road games, so GB has the edge there. I'd normally go for GB over redskins anyway, based on historical trends, and the fact that i absolutely hate the 'skins and their racist team name. Shit. Looks like i couldn't get through without a jab... oh well.

Still, if the Green Bay away bus crashes, or Favre has a mysterious injury, you'll know why! -k]

Yahoo! Sports - NFL - Redskins win, incumbent wins -- a history

] Unfortunately, our leaders do not understand the Fourth
] Generation, so it appears we are about to throw this
] opportunity away. We continue to bomb and shell Fallujah,
] which pushes our enemies toward each other. We seem to be
] readying an all-out assault on the city, which will have
] the usual result when Goliath defeats David: a moral
] defeat for Goliath. Many Iraqis will die, the city will
] be wrecked (as always, we will promise to rebuild it but
] not do so), and any losses the insurgents suffer will be
] made up many times over by a flood of new recruits. Never
] was it more truly said that, "We have met the enemy,
] and he is us."

The man who wrote the Marines combat manuals drops the knowledge bomb. Linked from Gibson's blog...

[ Very good reading. -k]

William S. Lind On War Archive

] With the knowledge that the minority vote will be crucial
] in the upcoming presidential election, Republican Party
] officials are urging blacks, Hispanics, and other
] minorities to make their presence felt at the polls on
] Wednesday, Nov. 3.

[ HAH! -k]

The Onion | Republicans Urge Minorities To Get Out And Vote On Nov. 3

I can't say I've ever seen a harddrive have THIS happen to it. How very ODD. The platters were wiped almost completely clean.

[ Yeah, i remember this. Aren't those DeskStars (aka Death Stars) the ones that had PiXiE Dust? Some IBM thing that increased storage density but also had the tendency to cause catastrophic failure?

What i didn't know is that the platters were plastic (glass?). In all the harddrives i've ever opened, they were metal, presumably aluminum. -k]

Ever seen a harddrive fail like THIS?

[ Marshall Mathers gets decidedly political. This is pretty intense stuff, but in the end, a very positive message to get out and vote.

Not that you can't tell who Slim Shady is pulling for.

I think the last lyric is among the best ever written, and specifically, "in these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ, as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army" is quite simply incredible.

Alternate link : http://www.ifilm.com/viralvideo?ifilmid=2654122 -k]

Eminem's Mosh

] One of the latest incidents came when John Sachs, 18, a
] Johnston High School senior and Democrat, went to see
] Bush in Clive last week. Sachs got a ticket to the event
] from school and wanted to ask the president about whether
] there would be a draft, about the war in Iraq, Social
] Security and Medicare.
]
]
] But when he got there, a campaign staffer pulled him
] aside and made him remove his button that said,
] "Bush-Cheney '04: Leave No Billionaire Behind." The
] staffer quizzed him about whether he was a Bush
] supporter, asked him why he was there and what questions
] he would be asking the president.
]
]
] "Then he came back and said, 'If you protest, it won't be
] me taking you out. It will be a sniper,' " Sachs said.
] "He said it in such a serious tone it scared the crap out
] of me."
]
]
] Sachs stayed at the event, but he was escorted to a
] section of the 7 Flags Events Center where he was
] surrounded by Secret Service and told he couldn't ask
] questions. "I was just in a state of fear," he said. "I
] was looking at the ceiling and I didn't know what to
] expect, I was so scared."

[ ! -k]

DesMoinesRegister.com | Politics

] A friend with a child in the Richland County,WI high
] school where George Bush appears today reports the
] following. Students were told they could not wear any
] pro-Kerry clothing or buttons or protest in any manner,
] at the risk of expulsion. After a parent inquired, an
] alternative activity will be provided, probably a movie
] being shown in an auditorium. (The school secretary
] reportedly said that students had the choice of just
] staying home if they didn't want to attend the Bush
] rally, but the principal subsequently offered an
] alternative.)

[ Granted, this *could* be the school administration more than the Bush camp. Though I'm pretty sure I've been reading stories about people being ejected from Bush rallies for wearing pro-kerry gear too, so maybe not.

Doesn't matter, this seems incredibly inappropriate. It's nothing more than a canned media event, exploitative and offensive. -k]

Daily Kos :: Free speech, Bush style

] A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign
] headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in
] violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's
] African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight
] investigation reveals.

[ Seems a little bit sensational, but I trust the BBC more than a lot of US media outlets. Regardless, I'd rather have too much scrutiny than not enough. -k]

BBC NEWS | New Florida vote scandal feared

] The young, computer-savvy veterans of 2000 have joined
] forces again and are reviving vote-pairing for the 2004
] presidential election. Although Nader's base is obviously
] much smaller now, with most of his progressive supporters
] long since having gone home to the Democratic Party, even
] a few thousand votes in the swing states could turn the
] election for Kerry.

[ This is a very interesting article. To say nothing of the validity of the practice, the fact that this is even happening, i think, points to some of the serious faults in our electoral system. That so-called third party candidates, and in the Dark Red and Dark Blue states, even one of the two majors, are completely marginalized, is a serious problem.

As much as this election has been focused on the need to remove a threat, i have long thought that in a greater sense we need a broader range of viewpoints, and a more wider ranging debate among our leaders. -k]

The Return of Vote-Pairing - Vote-pairing nearly saved Al Gore in 2000. Could it give Kerry a decisive boost this year? By Jamin Raskin